Follow-up: PFC Jessica Lynch

Trent Telenko ended his July 13, 2003 "Pfc. Jessica Lynch, Again with this:
bq. "You already know what I think happened. We shall see with the fullness of time exactly what is the truth and what is conjecture."
Here's what was published in the NY Daily News today, excerpted from Lynch's authorized biography. Follow the link and read it for yourself. Trent isn't happy to be right on this one, but he was. Armed Liberal's Freeing Jessica Lynch, meanwhile, noted what he saw as the 4 key questions:
# Did Lynch battle fiercely before being captured? [A: No. Her weapon jammed.]
# Was she mistreated when captured? [A: Yes. See above link.]
# Did the hospital staff give her exemplary treatment and try and return her to U.S. lines? [A: Yes. See above link.]
# Was the dramatic 'dynamic entry' into the hospital necessary? [Yes. A.L.'s post explaining why still holds up.]
And now you know the rest of the story... some of it, anyway. Donald Sensing has some good thoughts, good links re: women in combat, and a poll. I'll leave the last words to Gabriel Gonzalez in Paris, France, who noted that:
bq. "Jessica Lynch is not some missing bit of WMD. We did not fight for Private Lynch. She fought for us."

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Excerpt: I wish that Trent Telenko had been wrong. I wish that I had been wrong. I will not insult you by saying that I am sorry for what has happened, because what was done was not the result of action...

Taken a look at the front of the Drudge Report? "Jessica Lynch Disputes Army Account Of Dramatic Rescue" Hopefully, this headline is incomplete or incorrect.

Honestly, I have issues with the often-heard claim that the military 'hyped' this. They reported it and released some footage of the rescue. From what I remember, the media hyped it. If you ever need evidence of a bias... Just blame the government for your own excesses. Although I guess we'll figure out what's what tomorrow...

Well, yes, the media hyped it. This was a story perfect for Fox News etc. But, when they did that commando raid on that . . . hospital, did they need to video tape it and provide the media with the video?

It is my understanding that the original reports of PFC Lynch's heroics were based on overheard Iraqi military communications. The Iraqis were saying that Lynch fought fiercely, before we rescued her.

So, our military heard the Iraqis saying that PFC lynch fought feircely, they relayed that to the media, and now, it is the military who is to blame for passing on Iraqi lies? Hmmm... That don't set too well, especially seeing how the media operates.

This blog has done much to debunk the "military hyped it" meme... it seems Sawyer is asking the wrong question... but then again, how often does a media person ask if the media portrayed something fairly?

It was videotaped so that the military could learn from the rescue on how to do the next mission better. Also, they entire mission is critiqued and critiqued over and over again and is then used to train new SOF'S. Same thing they did in Somalia -- remember we had real live footage of Blackhawk Down. The military learns from its missions, even when they go horribly wrong.

I am sure that since PFC lYNCH was a fairly new soldier, she didn't realize that filming missions is SOP.

As for the video being made the reason the military had the video is because the guys are carrying small cameras on their gear. This allows for a couple of things after the raid is over. One is they can review the mission and see where they made mistakes and hopefully correct them before the next raid. They can also review the video to see if they missed something of importance that the intel guys can use. The third thing is that it allows them to keep track of people in case someone gets seperated, wounded or killed and left behind. All of these are IMPORTANT to the training and mission accomplishment. The fact that the video was released to a media hungry to show actual war footage is not the reason it was made.

I recall reading something when "Aliens" came out to the effect that the military was interested in implementing some of the technology shown in the film. The one I remember is the digital display of how much ammo is left in a clip, but they may have perked up at the helmet cams too.

The helmet cams are already in partial use, and are part of the "Objective Force" program, which includes the Stryker brigades but goes far beyond that into UAVs, wheeled robots, helmet cams, heads-up displays for soldiers, and more. This is seen as near-term stuff (note: in military procurement, that means wiithin 10-20 years).

"Dr. Jamal al-Saeidi, a brigadier-general and head of the orthopedic department at the now disbanded Military Hospital, remembers seeing Jessica's motionless body on a bed in the crowded lobby of his hospital. He said a police van parked outside appeared to have brought her to the hospital.

"When she was brought there she was fighting for her life," said al-Saeidi at his private clinic. "She was in shock because of the severity of her injury."

He said Lynch was fully clothed with her field jacket buttoned up. "Her clothes were not torn, buttons had not come off, her pants were zipped up," al-Saeidi said.

Al-Saeidi said he found no signs of rape during an examination although he acknowledged he was not looking for signs of sexual assault.

Lynch had lost more than half of her blood because of a 10- to 15-centimetre long wound on the left side of her head, as well as broken limbs that caused internal bleeding, al-Saeidi said."

Given the name of the reporter is "SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI," we have the AP relying on a local stringer to interview a Ba'athist doctor with ulterior motives.

I will lay good odds that the BBC will make this their spin for the Lynch story.

In a round about way, I think the accusation that she wasn't raped is a good thing. Honestly, will most people really believe that the US government, doctors, etc have convinced that girl she was raped? And, if so, the only reason for this monstrously cruel act would be the pr. And since the government didn't release this, Jessica did... Anyway, I'm betting on No. It's too ... too "something is wrong here". I'm thinking many people will say "Wait a second. What the hell? How does this explain the fact that the girl can't control her bowels?"

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